Awesome. I really like how you got texture and color variation in the walls but avoided looking overdone and busy. Very good snowscaping and an interesting footprint also stand out. In that courtyard photo you can really see the attention to detail, particularly in that lower-half of the wall right behind the basket on the ground, with those vertical tiles sticking out about a quarter-stud from the other bits. I'm sure that took a lot of playing around to make it fit together right. I'd love to see more detail shots to see how this build comes together.

I agree with Bruce whole-heartedly about using the word "awesome" to describe this MOC. For me, I really like that you used tan as the primary "wood color". It's different and lends a colder feeling to the build.

I have always loved your castles, and this one is especially amazing! It looks way more realistic than most LEGO castles, has tons of interesting details and a superb landscape.I second the comment on the tan woodwork, it works really nicely here

Thank-you for all the compliments and feedback everyone. Here are some of my thoughts on the build.

As it will probably be the only model on this scale that I ever build, I wanted this castle to be a sort of statement on my style of castle-building, which is kind of at odds with a lot of what is built and blogged these days. It's a sort of neo-classic realism. You know, to not be afraid of straight lines, chunkiness, and to have a level of pragmatism in the way the castle is laid out. The battlements must be sturdy and defensible, laid out in anticipation of attackers, while the individual buildings and areas that make up the rest of the castle must have purpose and a sense of context with one another. Stables, yards, the gatehouse, the well, could that be the scullery, the guardhouse, the prison tower..?

I also thought a lot about colour, and dark tan seemed to me to be the colour that most reflected what untreated wooden structures often actually look like, while using dark trans for the water underlaid with other colours I felt allowed the sense depth and texture of the surface of a body of water that I wanted. I certainly haven't perfected the use of colour - the black for the wrought iron of the gates seems a little stark, perhaps used too blockishly, while I also had to use black for the roofs where I would perhaps have liked to use a more interesting colour to simulate some kind of clay tile, but that was a decision based on the limits of my collection. I hate roofs anyway. I only ever found one technique I really liked and it was too costly and not appropriate for this model.

I am, however, still pleased at how this model turned out, and happy that you all like it.

P.S. Bruce, here are some 'behind the scenes' photos that may be of interest to you - do let me know if they are private and you can't get through to them.